How American Institute for Economic Research started their logo design journey

Summary

We need a single logo that is professional, eye-catching, easy-to-read, and incorporates both our abbreviated name, AIER, and our longer name, American Institute for Economic Research. Please read our design brief for more details or visit http://www.aier.org for more information about AIER

American Institute for Economic Research is a non-profit, non-political organization engaged in scientific economic research. We offer the results of our research to the general public through a newsletter, books, and a summer educational program.

We have been around since 1933 and have never had a real logo. Our website, http://www.aier.org, features our current "logo," but it is nothing more than text (Palatino font). Some requests/requirements:
- We are an organization with over 10,000 members and mail over 4 million people each year--we need a professional logo.
- We need something that is instantly recognizable and incorporates (preferably) our abbreviation, AIER, and our full name, American Institute for Economic Research, into a "true" logo.
- The logo will be used on our website (current space for logo is 417x87), our twice-monthly newsletter, and over 40 books. We will need to be able to scale the logo into several different sizes.